Benjamin irving



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e i i@ I. I y Ln-. @limited tant stmt @time www4-."- ;3--*^-r- IMM/@f2 BENJAMIN IRVING, `OF YORK, ASSIGNOR TO H. A. TAYLOR, OF MALONE, NEW YORK.

Letters Patent No. 85,173, dated December 22, 1868.

MPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING. EXTRACTS FROM BARK IE'IQR- TAN- The Schedule referred to :in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

MOP-' To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LBENJAMJN IRv'mG, of the city, county, andeState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Method or Process of Obtaining the Extract of -Hemlock or other Barks for Tanning and other purposes and I do hereby declare that the following is a full description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, as illustrative of the apparatus upon which the said new method or process is conducted, and-which said apparatus, in part, is shown in my application for a patent iledFebruary 21, 1868, and in' my patent 'of 30th April, 1867, and certain new parts additional thereto, not used in connection with the said inventions, at'the time of patenting the same. l The same letters ofreference, wherever they occur, refer to like parts.

Figure l is a side elevation of the apparatus, the red lines representing the gearfwheels, and the blue lines, the pulleys and belting.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the same. Y

My new method orprocess of treating bark, to obtain the liquid extract therefrom for tanning and other purposes, is conducted substantially as follows, towit:

The slabs of bark are iirst soaked in a vator tub of water-warm water'is preferred, but cold water will answer the same purpose, though requiring more time. When thus soaked theyare placed on the table A, and fed in 'between the rollers B and O, lwhere the water isv expressed from it by the crushing and grinding-action of the two rollers, in consequence of their di1i`er- "ence of speed. The fibrous mass of bark is then rolled forward and down between the rollers O and l), where it is again crushed, and ground up to a pulp, as it' were, and then dropped or discharged into a water-bath, F1, of -warm water, composed principally of the water expressed i'rom the bark while passing between the series of rollers B, O, and D.

By this operationv it will be apparent that the ibrous structure `of the bark is completely destroyed, and every particle of it exposed to the solvent action-of the water, to enable it to'absorb or take up its astringent properties with great rapidity.

In all previous operations to obtain the liqud'extract. of tannin from bark, it has been chipped up only, and then leached. The consequence was that the chip of bark always retained a large percentage oi' the tannic acid, and thus made a great loss in the product from a cord of bark.

In my invention of the 30th April, 1867, I compressed the bark between heated rollers, and, in going through the three rollers, passed the barkl through a trough of water. Experience has developed the fact that heated rollers are not necessary, but that the' iibre of the. bark must be ground to a pulpy mass.

Therefore, to accomplish this result, a differential motionis given to the rollers, that is, the roller C is geared sov as to rotate slower than the impingng rollers B and D, and thus the bark receives two crushing and grinding-operations, to reduce it'to a pulpy mass before it is discharged into the water-bath. therefore, like tinder for dryness when it -falls intothe water-bath. vAs this water is kept quite warm by any suitable arrangement of steam-pipes, it will be obvious vthat it instantly takes up or absorbs the tannic .acid contained in the vfibrous mattei'. It is then, by means of paddle-wheels G, thoroughly agitated and carried back to an elevator, H, upon the buckets of which it is thrown, and thus carried up out of the bath, and discharged-into a hopper, I, leading into and between a series of rollers, J, K, and L.

In passing through these rollers, the liquor or tannic acid is expressed from the iibrous mass, and is collected in a receiver, M, arranged across the machine, immediately'under the rollers, while the waste iibrous mass is discharged upon a trough or gutter, N, to be disposed of,"` as may be desired, for other purposes.

The liquor thus collectedin the receiver M is a satv urated solution of tannic acid, and a mass of muddy `iocculent matter, heldin mechanical solution and -from'` precipitation by the increased specic gravity of the tannic-acid solution, and thus prevents a clear solution of the liquid tannic acid being obtained. To overcome this diculty, and separate the muddy io'cculent matter' from the liquor, it is discharged from the receiver M, as fast as collected, by a pipe, I?, upon a fine wire-gauze sieve, Q, arranged horizontally aldngside of the frameof the crushing-rollers, and having .a slightly downward inclination.

This sieve is supported upon two transverse rods, R, so as toadmit of its being vibrated by means of a connecting-rod, S, connecting it with arotating crank'- shaft, T, Asupported in suitable bearings U, and propelled by abelt and pulley, V, connecting with any suitable part of the driving-power of the machine.

By this operationv thev muddy locculent matter is separated from the tannin-acid solution, whichpasses through the meshes inthe sieve during the agitating downward progress ofthe muddy flocculent matter, and is collected in a receiver, W, underneath the sieve, while the refuse matter is discharged between a pair of compressing-rollers, Y, to express any surplus liquor contained in it before discharging it from the machine, by way of the trough Z. As the compressing-rollers Y are arranged at the end of the sieve, and over the receiver W, all the liquor is collected therein, vand a clear and limpid saturated solution of tannic-acid liquor is thus obtained, and the extractive matter of a cord of hemlock bark .obtained in an hours time7 It is, A

where, by the old process of chipping the bark and I cla-im the method or process of treating soaked leaching in the tztnneries, it required days to do the slabs of bark, for obtaining the liquid extradts thereof, same work. for tanning and other purposes, substantially as herc- Hzwing how described my improved method or proinbefore described. cess of treating bark, for obtaining the liquid extract BENJAMIN IRVING. thereof, for tanning and other purposes, I will proceed Witnesses: to set forth whatclaim, aud'desire to secure by Let- CHARLES L. BARRITT,

ters Patent of the United States. FRANKLIN BARRITT. 

